In the News

Urban School’s Disappearing Act

A Feature by Dr. Vincent Cotter on Michael Smerconish’s Smerconish.com

March 10, 2023

While it is understandable that schools may want to compare themselves to others with similar demographics and challenges, at what point is it acceptable to be satisfied with mediocrity, let alone failure? Yes, an organization can learn a lot from failure, but in this case, the failures are decades long. Even more tragic is that governmental oversight continues to reinforce these outcomes with a continuous stream of funding without any serious attempts at eliminating the “root cause” of the problem. Unfortunately, parents often realize too late that ineffective educational practices do little to prepare their children for life, and tragically these failing practices restart the cycle of failure over again.

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Close the COVID Student Achievement Gap by Leaning into the Future

A Feature by Dr. Vincent Cotter on Michael Smerconish’s Smerconish.com

September 26, 2022

The recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results were clear. We need to improve student achievement ASAP! What is astonishing is that this revelation came as a surprise to educational leaders in the field. Equally as shocking is our failure to improve student achievement over the last decade and to recognize that this challenge is education’s #1 priority.

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Education: A Value that Unites Us?

A Feature by Dr. Vincent Cotter on Michael Smerconish’s Smerconish.com

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It is somewhat of an oxymoron to suggest that educational institutions have the potential to resolve our fractured political and social issues which have polarized America into distinct ideological camps, particularly when you consider the extent of its self-imposed controversies. Parental rights, curriculum content, gender identification, and school admission practices have many leaders failing to see “the forest for the trees.” Read the full article at smerconish.com

School Boards in Crisis: Quelling the Chaos

It is hard to miss the shocking displays of anger directed at school board members. Louden and Fairfax counties in Virginia have been the epicenter of protests involving the teaching of critical race theory while Broward and Sarasota counties in Florida have attracted national attention over the “masking” of children. Several suburban school districts in suburban Philadelphia had school board meetings in which security was summoned. Click the article below to read Dr. Cotter’s article on Smerconish.com

School Boards in Crisis

Pandemic Funding for Education is an Opportunity to Fix It

Despite rising case counts and the growing prevalence of the Delta variant, the process of reopening the schools in the fall is already underway. Even before the school doors open, the 2021-2022 school year already appears to be anything but normal.  Click the article below to read Dr. Cotter’s article on Smerconish.com

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Rebooting Schools article featured on Smerconish.com

Micheal Smerconish features Exemplary Schools Organization’s take on Rebooting America’s Schools: Now and After the Pandemic on radio and his website

Read the article on Michael Smerconish’s site by clicking the link to his site below.

Rebooting schools article


Money Probably Isn’t Holding You Back From That Change You Keep Talking About

The EDTHENA Blog features the work and resources of the Exemplary Schools Organization – March 6, 2020

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EDTHENA Blog Article